[Foundation-l] Elections: a new board for the future

[GerardM]

Hoi,
I expect that when Jimmy is going for an elected seat, there is a good
chance that at the same time his appointed seat becomes an elected seat.
When this is the case, it makes what some would say for a more "democratic"
organisation.

The most relevant part of an organisation like the WMF is our right of
departure. We have the option to stay or to go with a project. When a
project does no longer fulfil the aspirations of a person or when other
things appear on the horizon we can just go. The other part of this right of
departure that keeps the WMF honest is that the license allows anyone to go
on where the WMF left off.

Personally I think of all the wiki like projects very much as an ecosystem,
many projects are inside and many are outside the Wikimedia Foundation. As
our ecology matures, different, more mature, relations between the projects
will develop. Data will be mashed together and as long as the data is Free
and Available it will be a great environment to be in.

Thanks,
    GerardM

On 6/17/07, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Jimbo had indicated he would be willing to go for an elected seat next
> > year. If so, he would liberate an appointed seat in june.
>
> I would advise against Jimbo standing for election. He would, without
> doubt, get elected, so there is really no point and it just removes a
> genuine elected position, giving the community less control over the
> board. He should just be appointed each time his term expires, as long
> as the rest of the board have faith in him (if the community loses
> faith in him, then we can expect them to elect people who will oppose
> his appointment).
>
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